Cutting out sugar

[StixUK]

I had RLS for several decades. I have recently discovered that eliminating sugar in the evenings has a dramatic effect in stopping the twitchy legs. Has anybody else found this?

There's a post titled "This might change everything" about 3 days ago. In the replies, somebody says switching from Coke (or Pepsi?) to zero sugar lemonade made a big difference!

[Elffindoe]

Thankas for sharing this.

You are correct, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and/or other stimulants are well known "triggers" for RLS.

[Madlegs1 in reply to Elffindoe]

Agreed, also be aware that no or low sugar drinks are full of nasty sugar substitutes , which may or may not trigger rls just as badly.I drink sparkling water with a tinch of pure orange juice. Deelishus.

💚

[Lisapt]

Sugar is a huge trigger for me and eliminating it was a game changer. I rarely have any high sugar foods and, if I do, they are very small and early in the day. BTW, I do drink way too much diet pop (or soda) with no effect, but I don’t think that is the case for everyone.

I hope identifying this trigger can give you some relief.

[Muftah36 in reply to Lisapt]

So glad you found some relief. For me it’s not as simple unfortunately as sugar. Alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods have been eliminated for years now. Still searching for other possible triggers and realize that dark chocolate may be another. This is a dreadful and frustrating condition which has me worn out in attempt to get some peace and quality sleep. Enjoy the relief you found .

[StixUK in reply to Muftah36]

I sometimes have a long drive home late at night, and when I do I would often buy a bar of milk chocolate to keep me going. After that I frequently had mad legs all night which I put down to sitting in a car for so long (I'm actually pretty fit and active so don't normally sit still for long periods). But then it dawned on me that without chocolate, I had much better nights. I had assumed that it was the sugar and not the chocolate itself. Now you've made me wonder....maybe I'll try a few experiments to see if I can work it out!

Of course, I tried cutting out everything else - coffee -which I have with sugar (slight improvement), tea - which I have without sugar (tea in the evening keeps me awake for hours!) alcohol (didn't make much difference).

Having a good exercise was a big one - a long run or cycle made a big improvement to the RLS. Running for 10 - 20 minutes somewhere between 3 hours and 1 hours before bedtime worked really well.

I do hope you find the right combination of things to get some relief. Keep experimenting and good luck!